Chamber light socket and refrigerator

ABSTRACT

An object is to provide a chamber lamp socket in which a chamber lamp can be prevented from being loosened even if there is strong impact or vibration and from which the chamber lamp can be easily detached, and a combustible refrigerant applied refrigerator in which the chamber lamp socket is adopted. In the refrigerator provided with the chamber lamp socket attached to the inside of a chamber and the chamber lamp attached to and supported by this chamber lamp socket, the chamber lamp socket includes a socket main body provided with a lamp holder to be engaged with a mouthpiece of the chamber lamp, and a support member whose tip portion is brought into contact with an outer periphery of a light emitting portion glass tube of the chamber lamp to hold the lamp and which is formed of a flexible material, and the tip portion of the support member has a sawtoothed shape constituted by alternately forming gentle slopes and steep slopes in such a manner that a resistance in detaching the chamber lamp is larger than that in attaching the chamber lamp.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a chamber lamp socket attached to theinside of a chamber of a refrigerator, and a refrigerator provided withthis chamber lamp socket.

In a thermostatic chamber or a household refrigerator, a chamber lampsocket is disposed in an appropriate position in a chamber. Moreover, amouthpiece of the chamber lamp which lights at a time when an insulatingdoor opens is engaged with a lamp holder of the chamber lamp socket toconstitute a chamber lamp device (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,392).

Additionally, in the above-described chamber lamp device, the engagementof the mouthpiece with the lamp holder loosens owing to vibrations atthe time when the refrigerator door opens or closes, vibrations due toan operation of a compressor constituting a refrigeration cycle, or thelike, and the chamber lamp does not light at the time when the dooropens in some case.

Moreover, refrigerators increase in which combustible hydrocarbon-basedrefrigerant (butane, isobutene, propane or the like) is used in arefrigeration cycle constituted by connecting a compressor, a condenser,and an evaporator via pipes to form a refrigerant circulating path.Furthermore, in a case where the refrigerant leaks from therefrigeration cycle in the refrigerator in which the combustiblerefrigerant is used, when the chamber lamp loosens and sparks aregenerated between the mouthpiece and the lamp holder, there is a fearthat the sparks cause ignition on the leaked refrigerant.

To solve the problem, a refrigerator is known in which an insulatingportion of a socket main body is provided with a collar portion to beclosely attached to a glass tube of the chamber lamp to reduce thelooseness of the chamber lamp, and the mouthpiece is physicallyseparated from a contact portion of the lamp holder to prevent invasionof the combustible refrigerant (see Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 2002-164138).

However, even in this type of refrigerator, the chamber lamp loosens inrare cases. To solve the problem, it is proposed that the collar portionbe formed to be large, and a closely attached area with respect to theglass tube be enlarged. However, in this case, a large force is requiredfor the engagement of the chamber lamp, and operations to attach anddetach the chamber lamp become laborious.

Furthermore, in this type of refrigerator, when the collar portion isclosely attached to the glass tube of the chamber lamp for many years,both of the collar portion and the glass tube stick to each other. Whenthey are removed from each other once, this state returns to an originalstate.

The chamber lamp is usually positioned in an inner portion of thechamber of the refrigerator. Therefore, in the refrigerator at a timewhen several years have passed after the refrigerant was purchased, thechamber lamp expires. To change the lamp, a user stretches out his arminto the chamber to manually hold, turn, and detach the chamber lamp. Inthis case, the collar portion sticks to the glass tube of the chamberlamp. Therefore, the user has to stretch out his arm, manually hold theglass chamber lamp, and apply such a sufficient force as to prevent thisglass chamber lamp from being broken in detaching the chamber lamp. Thisis very difficult.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been developed in view of the above-describedrespect, and an object thereof is to provide a chamber lamp socket and arefrigerator with respect to which a chamber lamp can be securelyattached and detached.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a chamber lampsocket and a refrigerator in which a glass tube can be easily removedfrom a collar portion by manually turning a chamber lamp even in a casewhere the collar portion brought into contact with an outer periphery ofthe glass tube of the chamber lamp to hold the glass tube is closelyattached to the glass tube of the chamber lamp for many years, and thecollar portion sticks to the glass tube.

A first aspect of the present invention is directed to a refrigeratorprovided with a chamber lamp socket attached to the inside of a chamber,and a chamber lamp attached to and supported by the chamber lamp socket,the refrigerator having a collar portion which is provided withunevenness on an inner surface of a tip portion thereof, brought intocontact with an outer periphery of a glass tube of the chamber lamp tohold the lamp, and formed of a flexible material.

A second aspect of the present invention is directed to the refrigeratorof the first aspect, wherein the unevenness has a sawtoothed shapeconstituted by alternately forming gentle slopes and steep slopes to seta resistance in detaching the chamber lamp to be larger than that inattaching the chamber lamp.

A third aspect of the present invention is directed to the refrigeratorof the first or second aspect, wherein an intermediate portion of thecollar portion is provided with an annular protruding portion which isclosely attached to the outer periphery of the glass tube of the chamberlamp.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is directed to the refrigeratorof any one of the first to third aspects, wherein a combustiblerefrigerant is used as a refrigerant.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is directed to the refrigeratorof any one of the first to fourth aspects, wherein the chamber lamp isdriven by a commercial power supply voltage.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is directed to the refrigeratorof any one of the first to fifth aspects, wherein the collar portion isformed of a polyvinyl chloride resin material.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is directed to a chamber lampsocket provided with a collar portion which is brought into contact withan outer periphery of a glass tube of a chamber lamp to hold the lampand which is formed of a flexible material, wherein unevenness is formedon an inner surface of the collar portion.

An eighth aspect of the present invention is directed to therefrigerator of the seventh aspect, wherein the unevenness has asawtoothed shape constituted by alternately forming gentle slopes andsteep slopes to set a resistance in detaching the chamber lamp to belarger than that in attaching the chamber lamp.

A ninth aspect of the present invention is directed to the refrigeratorof the seventh or eighth aspect, wherein an intermediate portion of thecollar portion is provided with an annular protruding portion to beclosely attached to the outer periphery of the glass tube of the chamberlamp.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is directed to the refrigeratorof any one of the seventh to ninth aspects, wherein the collar portionis formed of a polyvinyl chloride resin material.

According to the present invention, even in a case where the collarportion brought into contact with the outer periphery of the glass tubeof the chamber lamp to hold the glass tube is closely attached to theglass tube of the chamber lamp for many years, and the collar portionsticks to the glass tube, the glass tube can be easily removed from thecollar portion by manually turning the chamber lamp.

Moreover, even when a degree of close contact between the collar portionand the glass tube is raised to prevent the chamber lamp from beingloosened, a large force is not required for attaching the chamber lamp,and the chamber lamp can be easily attached.

Furthermore, even when the combustible refrigerant is used, generationof sparks can be avoided. Furthermore, the combustible refrigerant canbe prevented from being introduced into a spark generating portion, andit is possible to provide the refrigerator in which safety is enhanced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator to which the present inventionis applied;

FIG. 2 is a vertical side view of a chamber lamp device to which anychamber lamp is not attached;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the chamber lamp device to which any chamberlamp is not attached; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical side view of the chamber lamp device to which thechamber lamp is attached.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

An embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafterwith reference to the drawings.

First, reference numeral 101 denotes a refrigerator main bodyconstituted of a plurality of food preserving chambers each providedwith a front door. This refrigerator main body 101 is constituted of aninsulating material such as urethane foam charged in an outer box and aninner box and between both of the boxes. The inside of this refrigeratormain body 101 is partitioned by partition walls having an insulatingfunction. From an upper part of the main body, there are arranged arefrigerating chamber 102, a vegetable chamber 103, an ice compartment104, a temperature switching chamber 105 which can be set to anenvironment at a temperature of −18° C. to 6° C. by user's selection,and a freezing chamber 106.

Moreover, a front-surface opening of the refrigerating chamber 102 canbe closed by an openably closing rotary refrigerating chamber door 107.The vegetable chamber 103, ice compartment 104, temperature switchingchamber 105, and freezing chamber 106 arranged under the refrigeratingchamber 102 are closed by a drawer type of vegetable chamber door 108,ice compartment door 109, temperature switching chamber door 110, andfreezing chamber door 111, respectively. Each of the doors areconstituted by charging an insulating material such as urethane foambetween each door outer box constituted of a steel plate and a doorinner box constituted of a hard resin material.

Furthermore, in FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes a chamber lampdevice disposed in the refrigerator, that is, the freezing chamber 106,the refrigerating chamber 102, and the like. This chamber lamp device 1is constituted of a chamber lamp 2 and a chamber lamp socket 3.Moreover, the chamber lamp 2 is driven by a commercial power voltage tolight by means of a control unit (not shown), only when each door 107 or111 of the refrigerator opens.

The chamber lamp socket 3 is constituted of a socket main body 4, and asupport member 5 attached to an inner box back wall 112 of the main body101 to cover the whole socket main body 4. Moreover, the socket mainbody 4 is formed of an insulating member such as a synthetic resinmaterial, and a lamp holder 8 to be engaged with a mouthpiece 2A of thechamber lamp 2 is disposed on an inner peripheral wall 7 of a chamberlamp attaching portion 10 having a bottomed cylindrical shape. A centercontact piece 11 is attached to a lower part (bottom part in FIG. 2) ofthis lamp holder 8. Furthermore, the lamp holder 8 and the centercontact piece 11 are connected to male terminals 12 and 13 to beconnected to female connectors.

The support member 5 is formed of a flexible synthetic resin materialsuch as a deformable flexible polyvinyl chloride resin, and has such abottomed cylindrical shape as to cover an outer periphery of the socketmain body 4. A tip cylindrical portion 5A of the member extends upwardsfrom the socket main body 4, and spreads slightly outwardly. Acylindrical attaching base 5B having a connector insertion port 14 isdisposed in a side part of the main body, and a groove 16 into which theinner box back wall 112 is fitted is formed in the attaching base.

Moreover, an inner surface of the tip cylindrical portion 5A of thesupport member 5 is formed to be uneven in such a manner as to repeatrecessed portions and protruding portions so that a glass tube 2C of thechamber lamp 2 is easily removed from the support member by manuallyturning the chamber lamp 2, even in a case where the support member isclosely attached to the glass tube for many years, and they stick toeach other.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the inner surface of the tipcylindrical portion 5A of the support member 5 has a sawtoothed shape inwhich gentle slopes 17 and steep slopes 18 both having flat-surfaceshapes are alternately formed. This gentle slope 17 is formed in such amanner that the slope comes close to the center of the tip cylindricalportion 5A toward a direction in which the chamber lamp 2 is attached,that is, a direction of movement in rotating the chamber lamp 2clockwise. Conversely, the slope is formed to be far from the center ofthe tip cylindrical portion 5A toward a direction in which the chamberlamp 2 is removed, that is, a direction of movement in rotating thechamber lamp 2 counterclockwise. An annular protruding portion 20positioned inside a sawtoothed portion 19 and protruded upwards isdisposed in an intermediate portion of the support member 5 under thesawtoothed portion 19. It is to be noted that the tip cylindricalportion 5A and the annular protruding portion 20 constitute a collarportion.

As shown in FIG. 4, in a case where the mouthpiece 2A of the chamberlamp 2 is attached to the chamber lamp socket 3, the sawtoothed portion19 comes in contact with an intermediate portion of the transparentglass tube 2C of a light emitting portion 2B of the chamber lamp 2, andthe protruding portion 20 is closely attached to a lower part of theglass tube 2C. The gentle slopes 17 and the steep slopes 18 are arrangedin such a manner that an outer peripheral surface of the glass tube 2Ccontacts the gentle slopes 17 of the sawtoothed portion 19, therebyreducing a sliding resistance, when the chamber lamp 2 is attached. Theouter peripheral surface of the glass tube 2C contacts the steep slopes18 of the sawtoothed portion 19, thereby increasing the slidingresistance, when the chamber lamp is detached.

When the chamber lamp 2 is attached to the chamber lamp socket 3constituted as described above, the mouthpiece 2A is fitted into thelamp holder 8 to thereby bring a tip terminal 2D of the mouthpiece 2Ainto contact with the center contact piece 11, and substantially ⅓ ofthe transparent glass tube 2C covering the light emitting portion 2B ofthe chamber lamp 2 is covered with the tip cylindrical portion 5A of thesupport member 5. In this case, a part (part close to the center of thegentle slope 17) of the gentle slope 17 of the sawtoothed portion 19 onthe inner surface of the tip cylindrical portion 5A is brought intocontact with the intermediate portion of the glass tube 2C (in thiscase, the part is not brought into contact with the steep slope 18).Moreover, the protruding portion 20 is pressed onto the lower art of theglass tube 2C, and brought into surface contact with the glass tube 2Cin a closely attached state.

Therefore, a holding force of the chamber lamp 2 by the chamber lampsocket 3 increases, the holding of the chamber lamp 2 by the chamberlamp socket 3 is assured, and a torque required for loosening thechamber lamp 2 or attaching and tightening the lamp increases.Vibrations due to opening and closing of the refrigerating chamber door107 or the like or due to operation of a refrigeration cycle aretransferred to vibrate the chamber lamp socket 3 or the chamber lamp 2.Even in this case, the chamber lamp 2 can be prevented from beingrotated by the vibrations.

Moreover, even when the support member 5 is closely attached to theglass tube 2C of the chamber lamp 2 for many years, and they stick toeach other, an only part of the gentle slope 17 sticks that is theprotruding portion of the sawtoothed portion 19. Therefore, when thechamber lamp 2 is manually turned, the chamber lamp can be easilydetached.

Furthermore, when the chamber lamp 2 rotates in a tightening direction,that is, attaching direction, the glass tube 2C of the chamber lamp 2abuts on the gentle slope 17 of the sawtoothed portion 19. Since asliding resistance is small, the rotation of the lamp is permitted.However, when the chamber lamp 2 rotates in a loosening direction, thatis, detaching direction, the glass tube 2C of the chamber lamp 2 abutson the steep slope 18 of the sawtoothed portion 19, and the slidingresistance increases. Therefore, this rotation can be securelyinhibited. Even if there is strong impact or vibration, the chamber lamp2 can be prevented from being wobbled.

As a result, the chamber lamp 2 can be securely prevented from beingloosened with respect to the chamber lamp socket 3, and it is possibleto securely retain contact between the mouthpiece 2A and the centercontact piece 11, that is, contact between the terminal 2D of the tip ofthe mouthpiece 2A and the center contact piece. Therefore, it ispossible to securely avoid generation of sparks that might be generatedwhen the contact between the mouthpiece 2A and the center contact piece11 becomes uncertain in the refrigerator in which the combustiblerefrigerant is used.

Furthermore, it is possible to satisfy requirements “when the mouthpieceis inserted into the lamp socket with a torque of 1.0±0.1 Nm, a torquerequired for turning the mouthpiece by 150 to partially return themouthpiece, and thereafter removing this mouthpiece is set to 0.3±0.1 Nmor more” defined in, for example, “the Japan Electrical Manufacturer'sAssociation (JEMA), Voluntary Standards, Safety and General Requirementsof Hydrocarbon-based Refrigerant Applied Refrigerator”.

Additionally, since the glass tube 2C of the chamber lamp 2 is closelyattached to the annular protruding portion 20 on the inner surface ofthe tip cylindrical portion 5A of the support member 5, a gas around thechamber lamp can be securely prevented from flowing on the side of themouthpiece 2A. It is possible to more securely avoid the generation ofthe sparks even in a case where a combustible hydrocarbon-basedrefrigerant is used in the refrigerator.

It is to be noted that the tip cylindrical portion 5A of the supportmember 5 is brought into contact with the outer peripheral surface ofthe glass tube 2C close to the light emitting portion 2B with a smallarea via a part (part close to the center of the tip cylindrical portion5A of the gentle slope 17) of the chamber lamp device of the sawtoothedportion 19. Therefore, little heat is conducted from the glass tube 2C.Even when a flexible resin material is used, the support member isprevented from being thermally deformed, and it is possible to inhibitproceeding of deterioration due to heat with an elapse of years.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above,various alternatives, modifications, or variations are possible for anyperson skilled in the art based on the above description, and thepresent invention include various alternatives, modifications, orvariations described above without departing from the scope of thepresent invention.

1. A refrigerator provided with a chamber lamp socket attached to theinside of a chamber, and a chamber lamp attached to and supported by thechamber lamp socket, comprising: a collar portion of said chamber lampsocket which is provided with unevenness on an inner surface thereof,brought into contact with an outer periphery of a glass tube of thechamber lamp to hold the lamp, and formed of a flexible material whereinthe unevenness of the inner surface of said lamp chamber socket has asawtoothed shape constituted by alternately forming gentle slopes andsteep slopes to set a resistance in detaching the chamber lamp to belarger than a resistance in attaching the chamber lamp, said sawtoothshape comes into direct contact with said glass tube of said chamberlamp and said gentle and steep slopes of said sawtoothed shape arehorizontal to a vertical axis of said chamber lamp.
 2. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 1, wherein an intermediate portion of the collarportion is provided with an annular protruding portion which is closelyattached to the outer periphery of the glass tube of the chamber lamp.3. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein a combustiblerefrigerant is used as a refrigerant.
 4. The refrigerator according toclaim 3, wherein the chamber lamp is driven by a commercial power supplyvoltage.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the collarportion is formed of a polyvinyl chloride resin material.
 6. Therefrigerator according to claim 2, wherein the chamber lamp is driven bya commercial power supply voltage.
 7. The chamber lamp socket accordingto claim 1, wherein the collar portion is formed of a polyvinyl chlorideresin material.
 8. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein acombustible refrigerant is used as a refrigerant.
 9. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 8, wherein the chamber lamp is driven by a commercialpower supply voltage.
 10. The refrigerator according to claim 9, whereinthe chamber lamp is driven by a commercial power supply voltage.
 11. Therefrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the chamber lamp is driven bya commercial power supply voltage.
 12. A chamber lamp socket comprising:a collar portion at one end of the chamber lamp socket which is broughtinto contact with an outer periphery of a glass tube of a chamber lampto hold the lamp and which is formed of a flexible material, wherein asawtoothed shape which comes in direct contact with said glass tube ofsaid chamber lamp is formed on an inner surface of the collar portion,said sawtoothed shape constituted by alternately forming gentle slopesand steep slopes to set a resistance in detaching the chamber lamp to belarger than a resistance in attaching the chamber lamp and said gentleand steep slopes of said sawtoothed shape are horizontal to a verticalaxis of said chamber lamp.
 13. The chamber lamp socket according toclaim 12, wherein an intermediate portion of the collar portion isprovided with an annular protruding portion to be closely attached tothe outer periphery of the glass tube of the chamber lamp.
 14. Thechamber lamp socket according to claim 13, wherein the collar portion isformed of a polyvinyl chloride resin material.
 15. The chamber lampsocket according to claim 12, wherein the collar portion is formed of apolyvinyl chloride resin material.